It was off to Dothan on Friday afternoon to gather with members of the 115 ACS (formerly a Tactical Control Squadron) of the Alabama Air National Guard. The unit closed a dozen years ago and several years ago, Chief Marshall our Ops Chief thought of gathering for breakfast to catch up on old times and current events. I usually go down the night before, since you know how much I love to get out of the office on Friday. I grab a room at the Hampton Inn and dinner at the restaurant next door. It’s been several different ones over the past few years. It’s Mrs. Boomers now and apparently has hit the stride as a popular hangout in Dothan. Grabbed a Boomer Burger and a few beers and walked across the parking lot to catch some SciFi on TV, sleep and off to Breakfast.
Most of us agreed it’s good to see everyone, the fact we’re still all alive. There’s plenty of grey hair in that group. Many members are still involved in the Guard. Col John Hodges, the former commander will always be one of my favorites in the Guard Program. He always had a great deal of faith in me and I’m glad I was able to join his unit after working with him while at the 117 TCS in Savannah. It was those early days of data link work between ground units, AWACS and others. Well, that could be another story for another time.
Not all the news is good at a gathering like this. Jim had lost his father, Ed his brother some others are ill. But the most remarkable story this trip was that of Steve Carlisle, who had a motorcycle accident on Veterans Day and was up and looking great at this breakfast. His recovery is months ahead of where you’d think, but when he tells the story of what he saw and heard as the accident unfolded to him, might get some back to church that hadn’t been in a while. Thanks to David Womack for the pictures, and I’ll load the others in the flickr picture steam.
From the Archives — originally published on the Opelika Daily News on February 1, 2009. View the original page.
